Kosovo

In the 19th century it was part of the kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro and their successor state, Yugoslavia. After the Kosovo War and 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia the territory came under the interim administration of the United Nations (UNMIK). In February 2008, the Assembly of Kosovo declared Kosovo’s independence as the Republic of Kosovo. As of 5 December 2008, its independence is recognized by 53 UN member states and the Republic of China (Taiwan), though not by others.
Due to the political instability from the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, the status of LGBT rights in Kosovo is presently unclear. Article 24 of the Constitution of Kosovo bans discrimination on a number of grounds, including sexual orientation. Kosovo is thus one of the few states in Europe with a constitutional ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Since March 2006, Kosovo abolished homosexuality as a mental disorder. Although Kosovo has among Europe’s broadest anti-discrimination laws, public attitudes remain deeply homophobic and it is unclear the extent to which the law is applied. In 2007, a gay man from Kosovo was granted political asylum in the United States after being repeatedly beaten and harassed. He was allegedly also harassed by hospital staff and police, to which he reported the crimes.
There are a few LGBT rights organizations in Kosovo, with the most prominent being the Center for Social Emancipation.

Introduction: Kosovo has had a difficult time becoming a nation and developing “Gay Life in Kosovo” has been even harder. Captured by the Ottomans then the Serbians subsumed into socialist Yugoslavia, then split off as part of independent Serbia in 1989 and again split off from Serbia to become an independent country in 2008. It’s no wonder such a struggle for identity and survival has left little time for such delicate issues as human rights, arts and letter–and especially for gay equal rights. Finding a decent gay life has not been and will not be easy for native citizens or western visitors.

The following is a lengthy collection of reports that attempt to portray the patchwork LGBT situation that is gay Kosovo, a nation torn by strife and hardship and warfare over the past century. It is not a simple story and not a glorious one. Homosexual citizens in Kosovo are far from equal in dignity, freedom and respect. One may hope that joining the European Union will slowly wean the country away from the crime of deep homophobia.